Theater

October 15, 2009|By Myra Yellin Outwater SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL - Freelance

'Driving Miss Daisy' capitalizes on fortunate casting

One of the biggest challenges that faces local directors is casting. So when area actors Sydney Davis and Jim Symmons approached Crowded Kitchen Players and said they wanted to do Alfred Uhry's three-actor play "Driving Miss Daisy," the answer was yes.

"That was a pretty attractive prospect for us, given their wide range of talents and experiences in theater," director Ara Barlieb says. "One of the reasons it is hard to do this play in this area is that it is hard to find a middle-aged black man, like Jim, who can act.

"And because of the popularity of the 1989 film starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd, the play is now a pretty easy sell."

To capitalize on the box office appeal, Barlieb will stage the play in two venues. The play runs this week through Sunday in Allentown's Church of the Mediator, and concludes next week in Quakertown's McCoole's Arts & Events Place.

Two characters drive the plot -- Daisy Wertham, a rich Southern Jewish widow who has just been told by her son Boolie that she is no longer allowed to drive, and Hoke, an unemployed black man who has been hired by Boolie as her driver.

Daisy takes an immediate dislike to Hoke, who becomes the symbol of her loss of independence.

But Hoke needs the income and refuses to give up the job. In the course of their 25-year relationship, the two grow closer and more dependent upon each other.

"I like the play more than I did the movie," Barlieb says. "The play hits harder at the racial issues. The movie is highly sentimental and leaves people wanting to believe that the whole racial issue had been resolved. But the play is less about someone who is part of the Jewish minority and a member of the black minority, but rather about relations between the white majority and the black minority.

"Daisy and Boolie are perfect examples of well-educated, financially secure white folks who would never believe for one second that their treatment of Hoke is anything other than egalitarian and a shining example of the compatibility of the races.

"But the script never lets you lose sight of the fact that Hoke is expected to use the back entrance to the house and he's one of "those people.'

"And at the end of the play, when Daisy is waiting out her days in a nursing home, unable to feed herself, and Hoke takes up the plate and fork to help her, you must ask yourself: Would she have done this for him?"

Chris Morris, director of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, says he likes working with students because they are so involved with theater and love doing contemporary drama.

This week the school presents "Eurydice," Sarah Ruhl's unusual take on the classic Greek myth.

"What intrigued me the most when I first read the play two years ago is that it doesn't focus on one genre," says Morris. " "Eurydice' has strong comedic undertones and a playful nature that is truly imaginary.

"But since it is based on a Greek tragedy, not everything is bright and cheerful. But as part of [the school's] curriculum, it is vital for the theater department and students to take on the challenge of cutting-edge, experimental work."

Ruhl, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play "Clean House," received a 2006 MacArthur Genius Fellowship, and is considered an important young American playwright.

Her "Eurydice" opens on Orpheus and Eurydice's wedding day. Eurydice dies and goes to the underworld. A devastated Orpheus follows her. "Eurydice" is an exploration of death, pain and loss, and relationships between young lovers; it also explores the father-daughter bond.

"The play focuses on her relationship with her father and also with Orpheus. We are trying to develop a balance. It is interesting which theme audiences respond to. Ruhl's ideas are pretty bizarre but intriguing," Morris says.

Students helped with the staging. Since some of the scenes are almost surrealistic, they decided to add shadow puppets, and develop backgrounds through the use of colors.

"Seventy five percent of the play takes place in the Underworld, where the colors are more subdued. So we have made the Underworld's lighting bright. And the ruler of the Underworld is a child who rides a red tricycle, painted a vibrant fire-truck red. We also use colors in our costumes.

"The play talks about music, and the script calls for music but doesn't specify what kind. So we asked music major Josh Kravette to compose an original score to be performed live by an ensemble, including a piano, cello and violin."